Differential effects of local habitat and landscape characteristics on bird communities in Mediterranean afforestations motivated by the EU Common Agrarian Policy

Sánchez-Oliver, Juan S.; Benayas, José M. Rey; Carrascal, Luis M.

doi:10.1007/s10344-013-0759-y

Cited by 26 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Second, this spatial scale has been found to be suitable to relate both landscape and species distributional patterns for a wide range of animal groups including birds (e.g. Sánchez‐Oliver et al ., ) and mammals (Pita et al ., ). The entire study area comprised a total of 1647 plots.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Generalities of vertebrate responses to landscape composition and configuration gradients in a highly heterogeneous Mediterranean region

Herrera

Salgueiro

Medinas

et al. 2016

Journal of Biogeography

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A B S T R A C TAim To examine the distributional patterns of vertebrates (including birds, bats, carnivores and lagomorphs) along landscape composition and configuration gradients to better understand the effects of landscape modification on occurrence patterns at both species and community level.Location The region of Alentejo, a forest-dominated area of southern Portugal.Methods The study area was framed using 1647 hexagonal plots, each of 259 ha in size. Composition and configuration gradients were obtained for each plot by integrating the proportions of the main land cover types and their configuration patterns using multivariate analyses. Species-specific vertebrate responses were investigated using data from 75 plots in which carnivores, bats and lagomorphs were sampled, and from 135 plots in the case of birds. Community-level responses were investigated through changes in species richness and beta-diversity in 57 plots where all vertebrate groups were simultaneously sampled. At the species-level, an information-theoretic approach was used to determine the effects of landscape gradients on species' responses. At the community level, Mantel tests were used to determine between-plot differences in species composition using the Sørensen dissimilarity index.Results We found that the occurrence patterns of most vertebrate species were best predicted by composition-related gradients, although configuration gradients were also frequently included in species-specific occurrence models. We also found a weak correlation between species richness and most landscape gradients suggesting a turnover in the identity of species, something that was corroborated by the stronger correlation between environmental gradients and beta-diversity measures. The amount of forest cover and landscape complexity (estimated as the heterogeneity in the size and number of land cover types) were the main composition and configuration gradients determining vertebrate responses at both species and community level.Main conclusions Our work contributes to a more refined understanding of the mechanisms underlying species distributional patterns in real-world human-modified landscapes. By uncovering generalities of species with multiple ecological requirements and by describing the entire landscape mosaic through landscape gradients, we also suggest that our work greatly helps to fill the gap between existing conceptual landscape models aimed to understand species distributional patterns in human-modified landscapes.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Generalities of vertebrate responses to landscape composition and configuration gradients in a highly heterogeneous Mediterranean region

Herrera

Salgueiro

Medinas

et al. 2016

Journal of Biogeography

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“…Cropland afforestations in southern Europe, which are mostly based on coniferous species, may cause severe damage to populations of open habitat species, especially birds, by replacing high quality habitat and increasing risk of predation (Reino et al 2010). Further, these planted forests have been shown to be suitable habitat for generalist forest birds but not for specialist forest birds (Sánchez-Oliver et al 2014), whereas secondary succession shrubland and woodland favour bird species that are of conservation concern in Europe (Rey ).…”

Section: Forest Restoration By Land Separationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vegetation Restoration and Other Actions to Enhance Wildlife in European Agricultural Landscapes

Benayas

Bullock

2015

Rewilding European Landscapes

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Intensive farming practices are a major cause of destruction and degradation of natural vegetation throughout the world. However, in some regions including Europe, semi-natural vegetation and farmland systems harbour wildlife of conservation concern and other values. We propose widespread strategic revegetation-a type of restoration related to wildlife-friendly farming or land sharing with little competition for land-by planting woodland islets and hedgerows for ecological restoration in extensive agricultural landscapes. This approach allows wildlife enhancement, provision of a range of ecosystem services, maintenance of farmland production, and conservation of values linked to cultural landscapes. In contrast, vegetation restoration by land separation, namely secondary succession following farmland abandonment and tree planting, would provide all these benefits only at the landscape or regional scales as this restoration type is at the expense of fieldlevel agricultural production. Furthermore, seed dispersal from revegetated elements favours passive restoration of nearby abandoned farmland and, consequently, rewilding. Revegetation of riparian systems and other actions that do not compete for land use such as introduction of bird perches, refuges for wildlife or creation of ponds would provide similar benefits. Revegetation of roadsides and roundabouts may support dispersal and spread of species but may function as ecological traps for wildlife. We provide a practioner's perspective related to land-sharing restoration actions in central Spain. We conclude that practical restoration projects-particularly strategic revegetation-are essential if we want to halt biodiversity loss and encourage the return of wildlife in agricultural landscapes.

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“…We predict that the effects of tree plantations may depend on land use type around them (Sánchez-Oliver et al, 2014b) and that they will be most noticeable in the breeding season than in winter due to territorial behaviour of birds.…”

Section: Low Effect On Open-farmland Birds Of Young Afforestations Inmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, an assessment of nest predation rates on open farmland habitat adjacent to tree plantations in central Spain resulted in 94.2% of artificial nests that were predated three weeks after the start of the experiment (Sánchez-Oliver, Rey Benayas & Carrascal, 2014a). Conversely, tree plantations are a suitable habitat for forest generalist and ubiquitous species, which may lead to an increase in local species richness around them in agricultural landscapes (Rey Benayas, Galván & Carrascal, 2010;Sánchez-Oliver, Rey Benayas & Carrascal, 2014b).…”

Section: Low Effect On Open-farmland Birds Of Young Afforestations Inmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low effect on open-farmland birds of young afforestations in heterogeneous Mediterranean croplands

Sánchez-Oliver

Benayas

Carrascal

2014

Preprint

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L o w e ff e c t o n o p e n -f a r ml a n d b i r d s o f y o u n g a ff o r e s t a t i o n s i n h e t e r o g e n e o u s Me d i t e r r a n e a n c r o p l a n d sA ff o r e s t a t i o n p r o g r a ms s u c h a s t h e o n e p r o mo t e d b y t h e E U Co mmo n A g r i c u l t u r a l P o l i c y h a v e s p r e a d t r e e p l a n t a t i o n s o n f o r me r c r o p l a n d . T h e s e a ff o r e s t a t i o n s a t t r a c t g e n e r a l i s t f o r e s t a n d u b i q u i t o u s s p e c i e s b u t ma y c a u s e s e v e r e d a ma g e t o o p e n h a b i t a t s p e c i e s , e s p e c i a l l y b i r d s o f h i g h c o n s e r v a t i o n v a l u e . We i n v e s t i g a t e d t h e e ff e c t s o f y o u n g ( < 2 0 y r ) t r e e p l a n t a t i o n s d o mi n a t e d b y p i n e P . h a l e p e n s i s o n b i r d c o mmu n i t i e s i n h a b i t i n g t h e a d j a c e n t o p e n f a r ml a n d h a b i t a t i n c e n t r a l S p a i n . We h y p o t h e s i z e t h a t p i n e p l a n t a t i o n s wi t h l a r g e r s u r f a c e , a n d a r e a s a t s h o r t e r d i s t a n c e s f r o m p l a n t a t i o n s , wo u l d r e s u l t i n l o we r b i r d s p e c i e s r i c h n e s s a n d c o n s e r v a t i o n v a l u e o f o p e n f a r ml a n d b i r d s . Re g r e s s i o n mo d e l s c o n t r o l l i n g f o r t h e i n fl u e n c e o f l a n d u s e t y p e s a r o u n d p l a n t a t i o n s r e v e a l e d s i g n i fi c a n t p o s i t i v e e ff e c t s o f d i s t a n c e t o p i n e p l a n t a t i o n e d g e o n c o mmu n i t y s p e c i e s r i c h n e s s i n wi n t e r , a n d n e g a t i v e e ff e c t s o n a n i n d e x o f c o n s e r v a t i o n c o n c e r n ( S P E C) d u r i n g t h e b r e e d i n g s e a s o n . Ho we v e r , p l a n t a t i o n a r e a d i d n o t h a v e a n y e ff e c t o n s p e c i e s r i c h n e s s o r c o mmu n i t y c o n s e r v a t i o n v a l u e .Ou r r e s u l t s i n d i c a t e t h a t p i n e a ff o r e s t a t i o n o f Me d i t e r r a n e a n c r o p l a n d i n h e t e r o g e n e o u s a g r i c u l t u r a l l a n d s c a p e s h a s a n o v e r a l l l o w d e t r i me n t a l e ff e c t o n b i r d s p e c i e s t h a t a r e c h a r a c t e r i s t i c o f o p e n f a r ml a n d h a b i t a t .P e e r J P r e P r i n t s | h t t p : / / d x . d o i . o r g / 1 0 . 7 2 8 7 / p e e r j . p r e p r i n t s .

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Differential effects of local habitat and landscape characteristics on bird communities in Mediterranean afforestations motivated by the EU Common Agrarian Policy

Cited by 26 publications

References 40 publications

Generalities of vertebrate responses to landscape composition and configuration gradients in a highly heterogeneous Mediterranean region

Generalities of vertebrate responses to landscape composition and configuration gradients in a highly heterogeneous Mediterranean region

Vegetation Restoration and Other Actions to Enhance Wildlife in European Agricultural Landscapes

Low effect on open-farmland birds of young afforestations in heterogeneous Mediterranean croplands

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